This application claims the priority of German application 196 50 909.2-16 filed in Germany on Dec. 7, 1996, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a heating or air-conditioning system for vehicle interiors.
In the case of a known air-conditioning system of this type (German Patent Document DE 39 28 944 C3 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,830), the air guiding duct, which extends to the so-called center plane of the vehicle interior or the passenger compartment and there leads into a so-called center nozzle, which is arranged in the dashboard, is constructed without an air flap, and a control unit is provided which has stored characteristic curves for the interrelation between the air quantity and the air temperature of the air flowing out of the center nozzle and which applies actuating variables for an adjustment of the air flaps predetermined by the characteristic curves to the actuators of the warm-air and cold-air flap. This permits a tempering and apportioning of the air flowing out of the center nozzle without air flaps in the air guiding duct. The air distributor connected to the warm-air duct has air outlet openings for the leg room and the rear compartment of the vehicle interior and is acted upon only by warm air.
It is an object of the invention to provide a heating or air-conditioning system of the initially mentioned type which permits a large-area inflow of cold air for the fast cooling of the vehicle interior at low constructive expenditures.
This object is achieved according to the invention by an air distributor which is connected to a warm-air duct and has outlet openings for air outlet at least into a lower plane of the vehicle interior, an air guiding duct with outlet openings for the air outlet into a center plane of the vehicle interior which is connected by way of a cold-air inlet with a cold-air duct and by way of a warm-air inlet with the air distributor, a cold-air flap which is assigned to the cold-air inlet and which can be swivelled about a swivel axis arranged approximately in the center from a closed position completely closing-off the cold-air inlet into an opened position completely exposing the cold-air inlet and vice versa, and a warm-air flap which is assigned to the warm-air inlet and which completely closes off the warm-air inlet in one of two swivel end positions and opens it up completely in the other swivel end position, wherein the cold-air flap is configured and arranged with its swivel axis in the air guiding duct such that the cold-air flap, in its open position, projects by means of one longitudinal edge, preferably in the center, into the cold-air inlet and, by means of an opposite other longitudinal edge, rests on a wall area of the air guiding duct which, viewed in the air flow direction, is situated behind the warm-air inlet, and, as a result, a partial flow to the warm-air inlet branches off the cold- air flow entering in the cold air inlet.
The heating or air-conditioning system according to the invention has the advantage that the cold air flowing from the cold-air duct into the air guiding duct is distributed to the air guiding duct and to the air distributor so that cold air flows not only by way of the center nozzle into the center plane but also by way of the air distributor into the lower area (leg room, rear compartment) of the vehicle interior and provides a cooling of the vehicle interior which, on the whole, is faster.
Advantageous embodiments of the heating or air-conditioning system according to the invention with expedient developments and further developments of the invention are indicated herein.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cold-air inlet is permanently covered against the entering of cold air over a small swivel range of the cold-air flap starting from the closed position of the cold-air flap. This covered swivel range corresponds to the predetermined control range of the cold-air flap in which, by means of the cold-air flap, cold air is admixed in apportioned quantities to the warm air flowing by way of the warm-air inlet into the air guiding duct. This has the advantage that, in the control range for the temperature reduction of the warm air which flows into the air guiding duct when the warm-air inlet is open, by the admixing of cold air, a return flow of cold air into the air distributor and thus into the leg room and the rear compartment of the motor vehicle compartment is avoided.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.